• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.87-99
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• 2021

Purpose - In this study, I attempt to clarify three theories of firm boundaries (vertical integration): the principal-agent theory, transaction cost theory, and property rights theory. Although these theories have been widely cited and much discussed, it has been found that understanding the commonalities and distinctions of these seemingly familiar theories is difficult. Design/methodology/approach - I present the three theories about the decisions that firms make concerning their boundaries. Then, I compare elemental versions of the theories of the firm. Findings - Comparing the ingredients of the elemental property rights and principal-agent theories shows that they provide a unified account of the costs and benefits of vertical integration. However, the property rights theory in no sense formalizes the transaction cost theory. Research implications or Originality - Clarifying the three theories of the firm can help to construct empirical models and interpret its results.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.13-22
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• 2022

Purpose: The paper contributes to the existing literature on Vietnamese corporate governance and firm performance with a focus on listed family firms and the use of a more suitable econometric framework to analyze firm performance. The study investigates how family firm performance is affected by corporate governance under the standpoint of stewardship theory in Vietnam. Research design, data and methodology: With the use of different measures for firm performance (Tobin's Q, ROA, and ROE), regression models were estimated using Generalized Least Square (GLS) method on a panel data of a total of 113 listed companies during the five-year period from 2015 to 2019. Results: We found that family ownership as the main characteristic of the stewardship theory affects family firms positively. In addition, several other characteristics in corporate governance as board composition (board independence, board audits, and board committees), CEO (age and tenure) and firm characteristics (size, age, expansion, and annual sales) showed significant impacts on firm performance. Our findings also suggest that family firm performance can be either positively or negatively affected based on the characteristics of corporate governance. The findings can help companies evaluate the significance of corporate governance through deciding board structure and the selection of CEOs to match family firm characteristics. It also gives insights for investors, rating agencies, and policymakers for relevant purposes.

• 사회경제평론
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• no.38
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• pp.85-128
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• 2012

This paper aims to provide an evolutionary theory of firm existence and boundaries. We explicitly discuss about the cause of firm existence from the viewpoint of evolutionary economics, combine functionalistic and process-oriented explanation of firm evolution, and propose industry-level theory of firm boundaries. Vertical and horizontal firm boundaries are explained in the same frame.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2023

Firm innovativeness and financing capacity are critical signals to stakeholders as they are key drivers of firm performance and competitiveness and indicate the firm's ability to fund its operations and growth initiatives. Based on signaling theory, this study investigates the signaling effect of a firm's innovativeness and creditworthiness and examines its signaling effectiveness. Using Korean innovation data and Korea Investors Service financial data for nine years, the findings indicate that a firm's technological innovation has a negative impact on its credit ratings, while non-technological innovation has a positive impact. Furthermore, a firm's credit ratings positively impact its performance. The current study contributes to the literature on signaling theory by exploring the signaling effect of a firm's innovativeness and creditworthiness. The findings provide insights for managers on how to send and monitor signals to stakeholders.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.135-147
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• 2022

This study was conducted to determine whether there is a significant relationship between board structure and board committee qualities and corporate cash holdings in Pakistan. For this objective, 168 listed enterprises on the PSX for the period 2016 to 2020 were chosen as a sample from a population of 436 non-financial firms. Multiple regression analysis was used in the study to discover a relationship between board structure and board committee features and cash holdings. The study's findings revealed that board size, executive directors, and board independence have no significant impact on the firm's cash holding because they play no important part in the firm's cash holding. Auditors, audit committee size, audit committee meetings, and the compensation committee, on the other hand, have no major impact on the firm's cash holdings because they are not relevant indicators to compare with cash holdings. While board meeting frequency and leadership structure both have a negative influence on cash holding, board meeting frequency increases firm costs, whereas leadership structure causes agency problems. Results were supported by the pecking order theory, cash flow theory, and agency theory.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.257-278
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• 2017

The paper examines the ownership structure and the firm value of online firms in the world. Data are gathered by using FACTIVA database for firms in the Dow Jones index for the 2014 fiscal year. The Ordinary Least Squares regressions, the Generalized Linear Model, and the model selection criteria are employed to analyze the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. The paper tests theories such as the convergence of interest theory, the managerial entrenchment theory, and the eclectic theory. The paper finds that the ownership structure has an influence on the firm value depending on the rank of the large shareholders. While the first large shareholders have a negative association with the firm value, the presence of the second and the third large shareholders have a positive influence on the firm value. The paper also finds that the identity of the largest shareholders whether they are insiders or outsiders have an influence on the firm value. The proportion of shareholding by a large shareholder and her identity are variables which predict a firm value.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.9-20
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• 2020

The study investigates a recent surge of cash literature by using a sample of hospitality firms to gain a new understanding of corporate cash holdings. Past literature states that there is a substantial variation of liquidity across industry groups. Existing literature predominantly refers to US-listed firms and focus on either hotels or restaurants and not the hospitality industry as a whole. Therefore, we provide a comparative study of cash holdings behaviour between hospitality and non-hospitality firms from an emerging market context. Using a sample of public listed hospitality firms from 2002 to 2013, dynamic panel regression techniques are used to study the relationships between firm characteristics and cash levels. Also, the non-parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test was carried out to examine the time and sectoral differences in cash holdings. In addition, the panel regression techniques are used to investigate the relationships between firm characteristics and level of corporate cash holdings. The results reveal that firm characteristics do matter in hospitality firms. We find that firm size, capital expenditures, and liquid assets substitutes are negatively related to cash level. The results support trade-off theory and the pecking order theory. This study incrementally explains the cash holdings behaviour of hospitality firms in emerging market.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.47-57
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• 2015

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory (the cost of financing increases with asymmetric information) among Korean retail firms from the perspective of debt capacity. According to the Pecking-order theory, a firm's first preference is to use internal funds for its capital needs, its next preference is the issuance of debt, and its last preference is the issuance of equity; this is due to the information asymmetry problem between existing shareholders and investors. However, prior empirical studies, such as Lemmon and Zender (2010), argue that the entire sample test for the Pecking-order theory could be misleading due to the different levels of debt issuance capability of each of the individual firms; in fact, they confirm that the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory improves after taking into account the differences in debt capacity of the U.S. firms they examined. This paper implements a case study approach among Korean retail firms to examine the relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in Korea. Research design, data, and methodology - This study uses the sample of public retail firms on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) from the time period of 1990 to 2013. We gather related financial and accounting statements from the financial information firm WISEfn. Credit rating information is provided by the Korea Investor Service. We employ the models of Lemmon and Zender (2010) and Son and Kim (2013) to measure a firm's debt capacity. Their logit models use the rating dummy variable as a dependent variable and incorporate other firm characteristics as independent variables to estimate debt capacity. To test the Pecking-order theory, we adopt variants of the financing deficit model of Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). In the test of the Pecking-order theory, we consider all of the changes in total debt obligations, current debt obligations, and long-term debt obligations. Results - Our main contribution to the literature is our confirmation of the predicted relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory among Korean retail firms. The coefficients on financing deficits become greater as a firm's debt capacity improves. This is consistent with the results of Lemmon and Zender (2010). The coefficients on the square of the financing deficits are also negative for the firms in the largest debt capacity group, which is also consistent with the predictions in prior literature. Conclusions - This study takes a case study approach by examining Korean retail firms. We confirm that the Pecking-order theory explains the capital structure of retail firms more appropriately, after taking into account the debt capacity of each firm. This result suggests the importance of debt capacity consideration in the testing of the Pecking-order theory. Our result also implies that there has been a potential underestimation of the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in existing studies.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.27-38
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• 2020

Purpose: Strategic management scholars have investigated the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on firm financial performance, identifying various impacts of CSR activities showing conflicting results. Meanwhile, relatively less attention has been paid to the antecedents of CSR activities. According to upper echelons theory, organizational outcomes are predicted by characteristics of CEOs and top management team members. Corporate social responsibility is a type of organizational outcome influenced by such top leader characteristics and choices. Recognizing the importance of exploring new antecedents of CSR activities, I examine whether CEO humility affects CSR outcomes. Research design, data and methodology: The KEJI index was set as a dependent variable to measure CSR activities. Among the 200 sample companies registered in the KEJI database in 2014, 85 companies were finally selected and analyzed to measure CEO humility, as independent variable. I also examine the moderating effects of firm slack on the relationship between CEO humility and CSR activities. Results: There is a positive relationship between CEO humility and corporate social responsibility activities and this relationship is negatively moderated by firm slack. Conclusions: This paper contributes to understanding positive impacts of having humble CEOs on corporate social responsibility outcomes and recognizes the role of firm slack.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.55-69
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• 2014

We try to test the pecking order theory of Korean fisheries firm's capital structure using debt capacity. At first, we estimate the debt capacity as the probability of assigning corporate bond rating from credit-rating agencies. We use logit regression model to estimate this probability as a proxy of debt capacity. The major results of this study are as follows. Firstly, we can confirm the fisheries firm's financing behaviour which issues new debt securities for financial deficit. Empirical test of SSM model indicates that the higher probability of assigning corporate bond rating, the higher the coefficient of financial deficit. Especially, high probability group follows this result exactly. Therefore, the pecking order theory of fisheries firm's capital structure applies well for high probability group which means high debt capacity. It also applies for medium and low probability group, but their significances are not good. Secondly, the most of fisheries firms in high probability group issue new debt securities for their financial deficit. Low probability group's fisheries firms also issue new debt securities for their financial deficit within the limit of their debt capacity, but beyond debt capacity they use equity financing for financial deficit. Therefore, the pecking order theory on debt capacity come into existence well in high probability group.